1902 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
273 
HOPE FARM NOTE.S 
Spring Plans.— We never had our plans 
so carefully arranged before. In former 
years we have made some top-heavy plans 
which have been upset by the rush of 
work and weather. This year we hav.e 
tried to simplify matters, and thus save 
time. The year’s fuel is at last all cut. 
This work came later than usual, because 
the roads were so bad that we could not 
get the power to run the saw. The mud 
on the hill between the woods and the 
house was so deep that we could not haul 
wood. It’s all over now, and there is a 
pile of fuel as large as a small house read> 
to be split and piled on wet days. By 
April 1, with the exception of a few odds 
and ends, we were ready for business. 
Plow shall we tackle the land to the best 
advantage? 
Organization.— First of all I believe that 
farm work should be organized carefully. 
I have known a man who wears pretty* 
much the same as the Hope Farm man’s 
clothes to have a dozen things rushing 
upon him at once because they were not 
taken in time and mastered. I have di¬ 
vided our work into three departments— 
farm crops, fruit and garden. Charlie will 
have charge of the first. He will work the 
team and do most of the plowing, ( seeding 
and cultivating. Hugh will take charge of 
the fruit, trim, plant, pick, pack and ship, 
while Philip will be responsible for the 
garden crops. Of course, on jobs like 
manure hauling, haying and grain harvest 
and occasional weeding, all hands will 
pitch in and work together, but for the 
most part each will work at his special job. 
Each will keep a little day book and set 
down each night what he did during the 
day, so that we may have a complete 
record of events for the season. The Hope 
Farm man’s job? Oh—he will do the fault¬ 
finding and lend a hand wherever he can. 
The Outlook.— What do we intend to 
do? We never brag about our crops until 
they are in the barn and sold—and thus 
we have had little occasion to brag at all 
thus far. In the Spring we merely say 
that we hope to do our best. We want to 
knock out our grain bill, which is the 
same as putting cash in the bank! We 
have a good acreage of wheat and rye, 
which looks first-rate thus far. We shall 
sow about two acres of oats and peas, 
three acres of Alfalfa and four acres of 
beardless barley. There will be eight acres 
or more of corn and about two acres of 
potatoes. Hugh will have his hands full. 
The half acre of strawberries looks well, 
and he will double the area. We also ex¬ 
pect slowly to increase our plantings of 
currants and raspberries. The apple trees 
must be well cared for. The old orchard 
near the house, which 1 considered a 
nuisance when we first came to the farm, 
is likely to give as much money to the 
acre as any field on the farm. We lost 
apples and cherries last year which must 
be saved and sold this season. Hugh is 
making out a list of the chemicals we 
need, and those trees will be carefully 
sprayed. The Greening orchard did well 
last year, but has never before borne a 
crop on the odd year. Hugh says there 
are fruit buds on the trees now. We gave 
the orchard a good dose or potash last 
August, and this may account for these 
buds. The peach and quince trees are to 
be trimmed and sprayed, borers dug out 
and the little trees wrapped with paper to 
keep off the locusts—there is work enough 
if well done to make Hugh sleep at night! 
Philip has little chance to associate with 
Satan if he keeps up his part of the jolt! 
He is first of all to have any of the fol¬ 
lowing vegetables ready for the Hope Farm 
table during their season: Beans, peas, 
beets, cabbage, lettuce, parsley, spinach, 
Lima beans, onions, turnips, celery, to¬ 
matoes, cucumbers, melons, carrots and 
parsnips. There will be an abundance o.f 
these things, and most of the surplus can 
be sold. He will also raise a fair crop of 
onions and late celery for sale, and we in¬ 
tend to set 5,000 or more late cabbage and 
try half an acre or less of Hubbard squash. 
Hugh also wishes to try a fair-sized patch 
of sugar beets for Winter hog feed—this 
being one of the ideas he picked up a.t 
Cornell. 
Monet Crops.— But where does your 
cash come from? We sell considerable 
wood in the form of telephone poles and 
fuel. Milk brings a little income, and eggs 
help out. We shall have a beef to dispose 
of this year, and several calves. The pigs 
will give a good many dollars. How many? 
We make no estimate. A pig is not an 
asset until he is turned into pork or cash. 
Our black grade sow that we banked on 
to help us out gave a litter of 12, but 11 of 
them were chided so that they finally 
died. Her fault? Partly, and partly ours. 
It’s no use buying silk dresses on credit 
on the strength of what pigs ouylit to do. 
I talk this way about the pigs because I 
have learned to discount, many of these 
big stories. I have heard men declare that 
they average $75 income from each »ow. 
Suppose I figured that as we have 11 sows 
we ought to get $825 out of pigs alone! 
What nonsense that would be, yet it is 
about like some of the stories we read. 
We hope to sell potatoes, cabbage, onions, 
celery and some garden stuff, rye straw, 
hay, cherries, apples and pears. There has 
been scarcely a day for the past year that 
we have not sold something—from a quart 
of milk to a $50 lot of poles. We have a 
big family of 12 to 15 people, and it takes 
a good lot of farm produce to keep them 
satisfied. I have been running over the 
list of articles we have been paying cash 
for to see if we can't raise some of them 
on the farm. As we are situated I feel 
that it will pay us to do this. Our 18 acres 
of small grain will bring us something 
whether we sell it to miller, hog, cow or 
hen. 
In Order.—So far as we can arrange 
ahead this will be about the programme: 
The clover seed will go on the grain and 
grass. The first plowing will be on a warm 
piece of ground intended for an early 
garden. Charlie will plow this and the 
big chicken yard, while Hugh is pruning 
and grafting, and Philip is getting his 
seeds and hotbeds in shape. Philip will 
plant early peas at once. Last August we 
transplanted strawberry plants between 
the plants of late cabbage. These plants 
made few runners. Philip will furrow with 
a small one-horse plow midway between 
the rows of strawberries and plant Nott’s 
Excelsior peas. This will utilize the 
ground nicely, keep it cled.ii, and the peas 
will be off before the strawberries run 
much. While Philip is preparing the 
chicken yard for the onions, Charlie and 
Hugh will get in the peas and oats and 
barley. The peas will be scattered on the 
ground and plowed in with the small plow. 
Then the oats with a little barley, too, 
will be worked in with the Acme. Then 
will come barley and Alfalfa seeding, and 
while Charlie is doing this and plowing 
for potatoes, Hugh will be grafting and 
scattering a little manure around each of 
the Stringfellow peach trees. Thus we 
shall try to organize and push our work. 
We haven’t heard much about those 
Stringfellow trees lately—are they alive? 
Most of them are alive and kicking hard 
at those who said they would die. Don’t 
worry about these trees. We will tell all 
about them in regular order. Wait till the 
season gives them a fair start and then 
I will make a report. 
All Sorts.— Spring is opening with a 
rush. The worst of these rushes comes 
when a stop is made for wind. The fruit 
buds are all starting. If Jack Frost 
catches Spring with his breath gone, how 
he will blacken his eye!.Good 
clover seed is “sound as a Government 
bond,’’ but it costs about as much, too. 
The price is awful this year, but it’s one 
of the things that a grass and grain farm 
must have. If a pinch must be made 
somewhere it ought not to be in the clover 
seed.The high price of feed 
was responsible for the sale of much stock 
near us last Fall. One of our farmers is 
quite a noted duck raiser. The business 
has paid quite well, but last Fall, when it 
became evident that the western corn crop 
would be short, he figured closely and de¬ 
cided that it would pay him better to sell 
every duck on the place rather than buy 
grain for them. He is a shrewd business 
man, and concludes that most farmers fed 
their stock through the Winter at a loss. 
I kept the sows over because I calculated 
that pigs would be scarce and high. So 
they are, but when the black sow lost 11 
out of 12 pigs—well, we didn’t consider that 
her Winter’s society made up for the loss 
of the feed. A good many hard-earned 
dollars will crawl through a very small 
hole in a pen when the thermometer drops 
40 degrees in a few hours of the night 
.We are now feeding the last of 
the shredded fodder. Our stock has had 
no hay yet. The fodder will last until the 
middle of April, and then we shall begin 
on the oat hay. Part of the rye and wheat 
will be cut green for hay. h. w. c. 
If you want the best, the most im¬ 
proved and the most reliable binder in 
the world—buy the McCormick— it is 
the unit of measure in harvesting ma¬ 
chines.— Adv. 
BEFORE BUYING S?8£, r ?5. r 
A NE W HARNESS alojrue giv 
—mmm lng full de¬ 
scription and prices of all kinds of single and 
double harness and save 25 per cent. 
King Harness Co. 510 Church St., Qwego,N.Y. 
How to Drain Land Profitably. 
On every farm there is probably some land 
that could be made more productive by under¬ 
drainage. Properly drained land can always 
be worked earlier, and more profitably. The 
best and most 
economical way 
to drain Is ex¬ 
plained in the 
book, “Benefits of Drainage and How to Drain,” 
which is sent free by JOHN H. JACKSON, 
78 Third Avenue, Albany, N. Y. 
STANDARD HORSE-CARTS. 
Twelve Sty 1 os—2 and 4- 
Wheel—Wide and Narrow 
Tires—Steel Axles. Low rates 
of freight from our Works — 
Tatamr Pa. —to all points. 
Adopted by farmers con¬ 
tractors, miners, gardeners 
cemetery authorities, etc., 
wherever the best is wanted. 
iOBSON & CO., Manufrs., 12 State St., New York. 
Corn Planting 
must be well and carefully done, as the fu¬ 
ture crop depends uponit. For all purposes, 
- in any soil, on all kinds of 
ground nothing equals the 
SPANGLER 
CORN PLANTER. 
It naves time, labor, money and Insures the crop. You 
know when it is working; you can see the corn on its 
way to the ground. Made with or without fertilizer 
attachment.’ New device for sowing peas, beans, enBl- 
lage, corn, etc. WenlsomakethefamousSpanglerLow- 
Down Grain and Fertilizer Drill. Write for cataiug and circ. 
SPANGLER MANUFACTURING CO., 505Queen St., York, Pa. 
ntrcun 5 Century 
Steel Ball Coupling 
Cultivator 
Parallel beam movement, 
pivoted axle, with lat¬ 
eral beam movement 
in connection with the 
movable spindles, 
or either independent 
( of each other. Lateral 
beam movement oper- 
ated also by hand 
lever. Centre lever 
for spreading and 
closing shovel gangs. 
The most complete 
Order 
immediately and 
introduce them for next season, cultivator On theinar- 
ket, having every possible movementof the shovel ganzs. 
The HENCH & DROMGOLD CO. IVUrs, York. Pa. 
To Raise Potatoes for Profit 
you require a DOKSCH HILLER, nnd J»IG- 
tshlt. No other Implement hills and digs so per¬ 
fectly, so easily, with such little labor. Practically 
two implements in one, and for the price of one. Hil¬ 
ler with wheel, S5.8 ti. Hiller and 
digger attachment, 87.76. 
JOHN D0RSCH& SONS, 
226WellS St., Spot «n 
Milwaukee, Wis. approval 
GoouPLANTER 
should plant all kinds of field seeds, 
Field, Ensilage and Sweet Corn, Peas, 
Beans, Sugar Beets, Stock Beets,etc. 
It should plant In hills, drills or check at the will of 
the operator. It should at the same time drop or 
drill all kinds of commercial fertilizers, wet, dry 
or lumpy, pulverized hen manure nnd other 
homo made fertilizers, evenly in any quantity 
per acre. 
The Eclipse 
Corn Planter and 
Fertilizer Distributer 
does all this in the most perfect manner. DropB 
seed from 0 to 45 inches apart. Will distribute from 
50 to 450 lbs. of fertilizer per acre. They are strongly 
built of good material and will last indefinitely. 
Write for free catalogue, circulars, etc. 
THE BELCHER & TAYLOR A. T. CO. 
Box 75, Chicopee Falls, Mass. 
BEST ON EARTH 
YOU SAVE MONEY 
In buyiug the LOUDEN GOODS. They work 
bettor, easier and last longer. No jumping 
track by door hangers, nor break-downs of 
hay tools in harvest—if you uso the 
Louden. Don’t fail to get our catalogue show-’ 
ing scores of articles needed on the farm and ■ 
ranch. Hay Carriers, Hay Slings, Hay Forks, Hay 
Stackers. Litter Carriers, lee Tools, Hoists,Wire Stretch¬ 
ers, Ladders, Door Hangers. Door Latches, Hardware 
Specialties, etc. Also How to Build Hay Barns and Sheds, 
Address, LOUDEN MACHINERY CO., Dept. J Fairfield, Iowa. 
TRADE MARK REGISTERED 
Roofing* is the only covering for poultry houses that keeps the chicks cool in 
Summer and warm in Winter. Preserves an even, dry temperature always 
Ten years without an equal. Never melts or rots. Write for Booklet K. 
THE STANDARD PAINT CO., 102 William St., New York. 
A Wonderful Offer 
SUCCESS 22 WEEDER 
Sent on trial to any farmer who cannot get one 
from his dealer. More than 60,000 now on the 
farms of the United States. The tool Is an ab¬ 
solute necessity on every farm. 
•‘I would not take $100 for my Success Weeder 
If I could not got another.”—FRANK UNGER, 
North ColUns, N. Y. 
Prices and descriptive circulars sent promptly on request. 
HALLOCK WEEDER COMPANY, YORK, PA. 
No. 6 
Iron Ago 
| Combined 
Double 
| nnd Singl 
Wheel 
Hoe 
| Hill nnd 
Drill 
I Seeder 
GOOD HELP IS SCARCE 
You will need fewer hired hands if 
you use more Iron Age 
Implements for 
farm and gar¬ 
den work. All 
crops pay 
if worked with them. Some crops won’t pay at all without them. 
No. 6 
Iron Age 
Horse Hoe I 
Cultivator I 
Look for 
the name 
IRON AGE 
The Iron Age Book tells all about the Iron Age Horse Hoes, 
I improved- / Wheel Hoes, Hill and Drill Seeders, Cul- 
Pouto* tivators, &c., and the Improved-Robbins 
I Planter. Potato Planter. The 
line has grown stead- 
’ since 
is 
better than ever. 
on implements] 
you buy. 
No. 70 Iron Age 
Combined Divot 
and Fixed Wheel 
Riding Cultivator 
ily in popularity since 
1836 , and this year is 
The book is Free. 
Write for it now. 
BATEMAN MFG. CO., Box 102 Grenlocli, N. J. 
